literature

princesses and prisoners

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Literature Text

The robin: an unmistakable, spritely, red-breasted little bird, so often observable within the walls of Sabrie it was safely assumable that no inhabitant of the city could honestly say they had not ever seen or at least heard of him before.

Undoubtedly, most could tell you this right away. Others would perhaps require a moment to recall, to register the name and attach it to an image, in their head, of the creature, before they could let out a soft 'oh' and tell you that they had, indeed, almost every day. And even those who did not fit either of these descriptions had likely seen him before, but were unable to name him, perhaps for lack of an education if not anything else. They were wise - or, if not wise, at least well enough travelled - they had seen many such birds before and many more beautiful too. Yes, in this, at least, they were all wise, even the poorest of the poor - but Alice could not be.

By Alice, of course, we mean the girl that everyone knew of, the talk of the city for years now, the girl locked away in the uppermost quarter of Glen Baskerville's finest, most impenetrable tower. But of course, no one really knew her, or what she looked like, and it still remains a mystery how they even knew her name. When they spoke of her they imagined some sort of a beautiful, blonde princess with immeasurably long, magically well-groomed braids, singing softly to the morning sun that she somehow managed to look at through her large open window without being blinded or feeling any need to squint in the slightest. Patiently, they thought, she must await her rescuer, without so much as a thought regarding the outside world, never once wishing to be free until she was wed to a stranger that for no particular reason would decide one day to get her out of her prison and spend the rest of his life with her.

A little boy from a neighbouring city once overheard this gossip as he watched a little robin fly by. So he asked the townspeople if, being locked away, she would have ever seen him before. The ubiquitous little robin - would Alice even know what he was?

Indeed, she did not. For Alice's hair was not blonde or well-groomed but black and not so well looked after as it could have been, and she did not have a large open window to sing through but one that was small and barred half shut, as if to torture her ideals. Perhaps, if anything, she did await a rescuer, but she knew enough from her books to know that it was ridiculous to marry strangers, no matter how much you owed them.

She was anything but a fairy tale.

A rustle of leaves, a chirping of birds. Every day sounds, to be sure, recognisable even by her - but uncommonly loud that day.

Alice's eyes, a dark, somber sort of violet, turned quickly to her window when a light tapping began to sound from that general direction, and lit up beautifully. She rushed to the window, almost tripping over herself in her excitement, and knelt beside it, grinning as she peered between bars at her visitor.

'Hello there,' she greeted, her voice soft, almost velvety, and lovable even by the little robin on the other side of the bars. Her fingers ventured bravely through to the other side, and, as if she knew by nature or perhaps from a past life exactly how to deal with him and his kind, caressed the small creature's back tenderly. 'You came to see me, did you, my dear? Well, thank you very much.
I don't get visitors very often at all you know.'

The bird automatically nuzzled its beak against her finger and made itself comfortable against the palm of her hand, as if he understood completely. Alice giggled.

'Oh, you really are a little darling!' she cooed, contentedly petting the bird for several more peaceful seconds until he, a nomadic type of creature and one that couldn't stay still for quite as long as she, began to pull away.

Her radiant smile immediately vanished.

'Oh, please don't go,' she begged, 'Please! You didn't stay for half a minute! Don't leave me all alone again!'

And the bird really did look sorrowful, shaking his little head as if in response, as he flew away, but he did have to go. Alice's gaze tried to follow his flight, but alas, she had forgotten she was a prisoner here, and rusty iron bars wouldn't let her pass even to see her newly made and newly lost companion soar through the morning sky.

An uneasy silence ensued.

Finally, the girl crawled back to her books. How useless of her to think the little robin would stay for her! How useless of her to think that prisoners could have friends!

And so she was alone again.

Eternally.
so yeah, Pandora Hearts, Alice before the tragedy and even before Jack.

I totally love this anime for this reason - you're given all the space in the world to imagine possible pasts for Alice. it's so much fun. :3

well, this one's actually quite old. I just found it randomly in my documents, as I mentioned in my journal, and quite liked the simplicity of it, so I decided to edit a little and upload. tbh, I don't even remember when I wrote it, so fffff. XD

anyway, be sure to let me know what you think.
flames alloweeddddd~

Pandora Hearts (c) Mochizuki Jun.
© 2011 - 2024 PurpleMushroomx3
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LavenderLobelia's avatar
This is beautiful description, and very much full of meaning :) I like it.